Good Morning El Paso 04.19.16

“we started closing the doors because the smoke and everything, we couldn’t breath inside” businesses in downtown forced to evacuate after a large fire overnight. the latest details from our ’round the clock crew on the scene live this morning. also ’round the clock — a car catches fire and shuts down a portion of i-10 for hours. / and new this morning. the commissioner for customs and border patrol talks about the life and death of one of their own. a very good morning el paso, las cruces, and juarez. i’m stephanie valle. and i’m hillary floren. good morning, everyone. an upper low over colorado will slowly move off to the northeast today and wednesday. this will allow the clouds and showers to end over the mountain areas. temperatures will warm back above normal for the rest of this week. moist low level east flow will develop thursday on into saturday. at first this may mean a few thunderstorms over hudspeth and otero counties thursday… but then spread to the rest of the borderland friday and saturday. a new pacific storm system will move in sunday… increasing the winds and forcing the moist air east of the area. we have a lot of overnight developing news. let’s begin with ’round the clock coverage from the eastside. i-10 east was shut down at mc-rae after a car rolled over. it happened just before 2 this morning. this is new video from the scene. emergency dispatchers tell abc-7 one person was taken to the hospital with serious injuries. police have not said what caused the crash. the scene is clear for the morning commute. an hours-long firefight had crews working downtown all night and even this morning. this after a fire broke out just before 8 last night inside a building on the 600 block of south el paso street. that’s where we find good morning el paso’s denise olivas… denise? the cause of the fire is still under investigation. more than 40 firefighters responded to the scene last night after passersby called 911. it wasn’t until about 10:30 last night that the fire department put the fire out completely. abc-7 was on the scene as crews fought the flames. smoke billowed into the sky from the commercial building. no one was inside at the time. the fire was quickly upgraded to a condition 4 when part of the roof of the building collapsed. meaning it was too dangerous for firefighters to be inside. el paso fire dept. spokesman, carlos briano, says they kept the fire from spreading: “with these businesses downtown they share common walls. so we are trying to contain it to the initial structure. the building is a total loss with damage estimated at 250-thousand dollars. one of the challenges fighting the fire was how close businesses are to each other in that area of downtown. this is a look at the area from google’s street view. abc-7’s evan folan was on the scene of the fire all night as firefighters struggled to put it out. he continues our complete coverage with a look at went on behind the scenes. at the heart of the fire, this is what we are dealing with. a very active scene. several pumpers and firefighters still putting on their gear. and if you follow me back this way, the mobile air unit is here. firefighters have been coming in and out to fill up their tanks or just to take a breather after fighting the fire for hours. i want to direct your attention back here, the zapateria, that’s right next to la mexicanita where the fire started. firefighters had to break through the zapateria to see if the fire had spread through that shop. at this moment, there are no injuries reported. from south el paso, evan folan, abc-7. from the abc-seven new mexico mobile newsroom… there was also a fire overnight in las cruces. this happened at a house on the 41-hundred block of la purisima drive. it happened around 9-30. the fire department tells abc-7 there were heavy flames coming from a newly framed home with an open garage. the damage estimate and cause of the fire are still under investigation. no one was in the home at the time, and no injuries were reported. also in new mexico, nmsu and border patrol have not said if they’re still looking for additional suspects following a chase and a crash in las cruces. authorities say it began when the border patrol was chasing a car yesterday, and it crashed just west of dona ana community college’s central campus. nmsu police say four who fled were arrested within minutes. one officer did suffer minor injuries during the chase. nmsu says they still don’t know why the driver was fleeing from border patrol. yesterday, nmsu said there may be a fifth person on the loose. we are learning more about the border patrol agent killed in a crash near fort hancock. he was 29-year-old jose barraza. a friend on a crowd funding page, you caring-dot com, says barraza had just got off the night shift when the crash happened. investigators still don’t know how or why barraza crashed his car into the back of an 18- wheeler. barraza’s wife shared with us these photos. here you see him with a dog that was part of the border patrol canine program. the dog was in the car with him and is doing ok. we also learned barraza was a father of two boys — ages 8 and 5. the c-b-p commissioner issued this statement: i am deeply saddened by the death of u.s. border patrol agent barraza. the canine handler, was involved in a vehicle accident with his canine, vino. agent barraza was assigned to the sierra blanca station of the border patrol’s big bend sector. our thoughts and prayers are with agent barraza’s family during this difficult time. a barrio azteca gang has been sentenced to 99 years in prison… this after jurors convicted him of engaging in organized criminal activity… but acquitted him of capital murder. luis rodriguez was on trial for the deaths of two men in 2012. rodriguez plans to file a motion for a new trial before appealing the sentence. his attorney says — if the current sentencing stands — rodriguez will be eligible for parole after serving 30 years. an upper low over colorado will slowly move off to the northeast today and wednesday. this will allow the clouds and showers to end over the mountain areas. temperatures will warm back above normal for the rest of this week. moist low level east flow will develop thursday on into saturday. at first this may mean a few thunderstorms over hudspeth and otero counties thursday… but then spread to the rest of the borderland friday and saturday. a new pacific storm system will move in sunday… increasing the winds and forcing the moist air east of the area. now it’s time to take a look at the tx-dot traffic cams… abc-seven with a traffic alert… starting tonight at 7 p.m. until tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. there will be a complete closure of 1-10 east and west between the westway exit and westway entrance ramps…also know as the vinton exit and entrance ramp …so a small section of the freeway. i-10 east and westbound traffic will have to exit at westway and re-enter on westway entrance ramps. also starting tonight at 9 p.m. until tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. there will be a complete closure of i-10 west lanes between lee trevino and lomaland. we still have much more to come here on gmep… it’s primary day in new york but only a few candidates are in the empire state today while others are already looking ahead. / “hundreds of high water rescues in houston texas, i’m abc’s bazi kanni with the latest on a city recovering, coming up.” and this is abc-7, where news comes first! now to the latest in